Friday, November 1, 2019

Interview with Krysten Lindsay Hager, IN OVER HER HEAD

Can you give us a brief overview of your latest book? Is it part of a series?
In Over Her Head: Lights, Camera, Anxiety is a YA romantic comedy about a high school girl who has started dating her favorite singer and deals with all the challenges that come with that. Cecily gets the chance to achieve her dreams as well as an opportunity comes up to help her get exposure for her acting career. Who wouldn’t want to see what it was like to live the life of your dreams and date the singer you love? It is part of the Cecily Taylor Series.

Do you have a favorite character?
I love writing the Cecily character and the scenes with her texting her friends Allie and Lila always crack me up. I also love the journey the pop star character, Andrew, has been going on dealing with fame, staying true to his artistic visions, and handling his anxiety.

Have you ever had a minor character evolve into a major one? Did that change the direction of the novel at all?
Yes, the Lila character who is the best friend took on more of a role in this book as she started getting back with a toxic ex. Cecily spoke up saying she didn’t think it was a good idea (the guy cheated on Lila) and Lila started pulling away from her. So the friendship theme took on a bigger role in the book as Cecily reacts to being iced out over trying to be a good friend.

Briefly describe your journey in writing your first or latest book.
I started off planning to have Cecily and Andrew hit a few bumps in the road with their relationship, but along the way I decided to have Andrew share with her his battle with anxiety and it brings them closer. I started relating to what Andrew was going through and he became one of my all-time favorite characters to write.

What is your writing process? Do you listen to music or do you like silence?
I tend to write late at night when it’s quiet and I don’t have a million other things going on to distract me.
I need total focus so I am not the type to write in a coffee shop. Some books take a lot longer than others for me to write.

Do you outline your story or just go where your muse takes you?
I usually go where my muse takes me and sometimes it’s not where I thought I was going at all! I sometimes feel I end up writing the book that needed to be written rather than the book I went in wanting to write. I usually find that when someone contacts me to tell me a part of a book I wrote helped them as they were going through something. Then I think, “Okay, so that’s why I was meant to put that part in the story.”

Do you find it difficult to juggle your time between marketing your current book and writing your next book?
Yes, any sort of business side of a writing career takes up a lot of time and energy. I’ve had days where it’s been constant emails and things that needed to be done right away even though you just got the email about it. I always dream about having a weekend just to get away from the chaos and write.

Besides writing, do you have any other passions?
I love reading, music, journaling, doing Bible studies, and staying in touch with friends via social media.

Some fun facts about you, which do you prefer
Dogs or cats? It’s hard to say since all animals have their own personalities. Can I pick polar bears instead?
Chocolate or vanilla? Chocolate
Coffee or Tea? Tea
Talk or Text? Talk for sure.
Day or Night? Night.

What’s next for you?
I’m busy at work on the next book in the Cecily Taylor Series which has Cecily going back to New York and she’s acting in a music video for a different singer. She also gets another acting job and her friend Allie has a big life change coming as well. I’m also working on another YA book as well as some adult romantic comedies.



BLURB:

Cecily feels like she has it all: great best friends, the beginnings of a career as a model/actress, and she’s dating her favorite singer, Andrew Holiday. Then Cecily’s best friend Lila begins to ditch her every time Lila’s boyfriend calls. Cecily feels lost, but she and Andrew begin connecting more and she’s never been in a relationship where she felt so understood. Andrew even begins to confide in her about his anxiety. Soon Cecily experiences her own anxiety on a magazine photo shoot, but she manages to impress the magazine staff. Just when it seems like all her dreams are coming true, everything comes crashing down when a photo of Andrew with another girl appears online. He swears nothing happened, but Cecily is crushed. She feels like she’s lost two of the people closest to her.

Was her perfect relationship real or was she in over her head?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Krysten Lindsay Hager writes about friendship, self-esteem, fitting in, frenemies, crushes, fame, first loves, and values. She is the author of True Colors, Best Friends...Forever?, Next Door to a Star,  Landry in Like, Competing with the Star, Dating the It Guy, and Can Dreams Come True. True Colors, won the Readers Favorite award for best preteen book and the Dayton Book Expo Bestseller Award for childen/teens. Competing with the Star is a Readers' Favorite Book Award Finalist. Landry in Like is a Literary Classics Gold Medal recipient.
Krysten's work has been featured in USA Today, The Flint Journal, the Grand Haven Tribune, the Beavercreek Current, the Bellbrook Times, Springfield News-Sun, Grand Blanc View, Dayton Daily News and on Living Dayton. 

Author links:


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